> At first I didn't really understand but then I realized this is America. Funding and maintaining infrastructure is not exactly a priority
As opposed to where? Asia?
The US typically spends between as much or slightly more of its GDP on funding infrastructure vs what either the EU or Eurozone do. European spending on infrastructure has been mediocre for decades.
2017 "Europe’s spending on infrastructure at ‘chronic’ low level ... Spending at 20-year low threatens region’s prosperity, EIB report warns"
2017 "Germany’s low investment rate leaves its infrastructure creaking ... The country with Europe’s strongest economy faces potholed roads and crumbling schools"
Most NIMBY cities (like NYC and SF) today no longer allow industrial buildings (like for example power plants or refineries) in their city limits. So yes, "how large America is" does end up mattering because electricity and gas and everything else ends up shipped 1-2 hours' drive away.
I'd love to see LA get a GWHr++ energy storage battery inside the city limits. They could trickle charge at will and supply cheap power 24/7. LA could have the cheapest power in the NA this way. It would revitalize manufacturing.
Los Angeles kicked out their manufacturing a couple decades ago. They literally refused to issue electrical permits to upgrade manufacturing lines. After some years the plants became noncompetitive and employers left town.
